7:00 am-I get up and Iva is already working and I wonder in amazement at how she does it because she goes to sleep later than I do. Together we feed the chickens (kuřecí), ducks (kachna), dogs (pes), cats (kočka), the pig (prase), goats (koza), sheep (ovce), and horses (koně).
8:30 am-We have breakfast and tea (čaj) and relax. Iva speaks English well enough for us to communicate and I am working on learning Czech (Ceske). Her kids barely speak any English (Angličtina) although they learn to read and write it in school.
10:00 am-We let the ducks and dogs out and do various work-usually making manure (hnůj) or refilling the animals’ pens with straw (sláma). Call the dogs back.
12:00 pm-Lunch time!
2:00 pm-Feed the horses hay (seno) and finish whatever we started earlier.
4:00 pm-Sometimes we will go into town, go for a ride, or Iva has to work at one of her many part time jobs.
6:00 pm-We gather the ducks back into their pen, then we feed the chickens, ducks, goats, and the pig. We prepare the hay for the horses at 9 pm.
7:30 pm-Dinner time! And time to make fires to warm the house for the night.
9:00 pm-We let the dogs out again, feed the horses, and are done for the day. We secure the chicken coop so no hungry foxes get in and bring the old mare and the young foal into the stables for the night. We check on Adelka (the pig) because she is pregnant and expected to give birth any day.
10:00 pm-I always try to go to bed early because I had to get up early, but I usually stay up until midnight.